Second Knife Suggestions?

[ABitoSlo]

I'm a-thinking, as I get started carving, the general direction I'll go is to carving found wood. Small stuff I can do at my desk at home for a couple hours in the evening after work. As part of the learning curve I'll also be carving on basswood. Love the stuff.

In general I expect to be carving some sort of figurnies, focusing on faces to start with, and the more smooth the better.

So..I have one knife, with a 1 3/8" straight edged blade.(called a chip carving knife I guess) Seems a little thin though as the edge gets easily damaged by dry Aspen (or Poplar, not sure). Blade may also be the wrong shape, or too long.

Can you give me some direction for a second blade shape, size, and grind angle I should look for? There's straight edges, curved edges, curved blades, double-edged .... ok, probably not double edged - could be rough in my thumb if I try to push it along.... :-)

[Claude]

The carving knife you show in the photo is a good general-purpose carving knife. For small figures, I use this Buy Butz Detail Knife at Woodcraft for fine detail. The blade is narrow and thin so it will cut fine detail with minimal chipping off (think eyelids, ears, etc.). The only down side of the knife is that it does not come carving sharp - it took me some time to get it sharp, particularly on the tip. My leather strop got the part of the blade near the handle sharp quickly, but I could not get the tip sharp. The problem was that the thinness of the blade makes it flexible near the tip. As I put pressure on the blade when stropping, the tip would compress the leather, lay flat, and not get sharp. My solution was to take a flat piece of scrap basswood, smooth it slightly with a plane, then rub some of the stropping compound directly on the wood. Using this as a strop, I was able to strop the tip of the blade and get it sharp.

Claude

[carvingbarn]

I am not sure what you are looking to spend I second Claude’s suggestion on the Butz knife. Here is also a great starters kit offered drake tools. I am a big Drake fan as are many here on the forum. It is a great price for the tools you will get. Starter Kit

[ABitoSlo]

Thanks Claude and Randy. I see you two posting a lot of great suggestions. Glad to have folks like you around the forums.

Ok,so a straight edged, 1 1/2" or 1 7/8" blade, and very fine tip detail knife, right? What role would a shorter blade work for? In other words, advantages or disadvantages of longer vs shorter blades? (without going to extremes...but then I don't know what extreme is in the carving world)

The cost per knife for either the Butz or Drake is ok, since I'll be buying only a single knife for now. (ok, maybe 2 more knives.) The concern is how well the edge holds up from either rolling or chipping, so good steel is worth the price. (assuming I sharpen in correctly...ugh) I wouldn't mind putting a handle on a good blade to save some money because I like shaping and finishing knife handles.

[schwert]

If you are carving found wood you may want to look at the sloyds from Del Stubbs at Pinewood Forge. These are more specifically tuned to denser harder woods over the general offering for basswood carving.





Del is a super fellow, his recent hand injury has slowed his production of these fine tools but they are worth the wait.

Pinewood Forge Scandinavian Knives

[Eddy-Smiles]

Slo... Check out Mike Shipley's knives. He's got a kinfe for any purpose. They all come razor sharp and if you email Mike and tell him exactly what you want to carve he'll tell you which knife would be the best knife for you. Best yet, Mike's knives are some of the most resonably priced on the market for their quality and he only charges what it actually costs him to mail it to you for shipping which usually comes to less than $2.00.

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[ABitoSlo]

Hey, Pinewood Forge is onlya 5 hr drive north of me. :-) If nothing else I should arrange to meet him in early November as I'll be in the area.

Now to go look up Mike...

Still, I'm willing to guess most of these guys are pretty busy trying to keep up with business, so size/shape suggestions here can help me understand what my questions to the knife makers should be... remember when you didn't know enough to ask the right questions? I hate that. :-)

[schwert]

I think the most important thing is to be clear as to what you are carving. Green or Dry found hardwoods are very different from each other and basswood is the other end of the spectrum. Basswood tools can have a very shallow angle...where your found woods hardwoods tools should be a bit more robust....still so sharp they cut your eye by looking at them but with a bit steeper angle to take on the much harder woods.

As a beginner I would avoid any tools that do not come from the maker ready to carve. It is very very easy to see how a carving ready tool is delivered and then maintain that...rather then getting a blunt tool that requires a load of work to make carving sharp. The common stuff at Woodcraft etc are not generally carving ready...where tools from many of the smaller suppliers are ready to go out of the box. The offerings from the smaller makers may cost a bit more, but in my view, a beginner buying an inexpensive NOT carving ready tool is hampering their learning straight off. You will learn quickly to maintain an excellent tool but you may never learn what a well tuned sharp tool can do if you never experience one.

[ABitoSlo]

Schwert, you make 2 very good points, "...easy to see how a carving ready tool is delivered and then maintain that.....a beginner buying an inexpensive NOT carving ready tool is hampering their learning straight off." I have, as of 2 evenings ago, conceded that I need my gouges ground and sharpened correctly, then I can maintain and mimic that when I have to. I have wasted too much time trying to get them right and not focusing on carving. (I have had several stop-starts over the past few years. Now I'm going to try local groups, clubs too. Made the mistake of going it alone)

On the knives: can a person get away with using knives ground for dry hardwoods on basswood? Is the end result satisfactory, or does the softer wood get all chewed up?

[schwert]

I am not the best to answer that as I have only done one basswood cutout...but with a grain of salt here is my answer...

A sharp sharp knife that is tuned for works in hardwoods works well on basswood. However a basswood designed knife which is thinner with a lower angle is a beauty of a tool...the sound of basswood chips zipping off the cutout is like music.

For me my tool roll is mostly designed for hardwoods...green found woods to be specific. I bought Del Stubbs Harley knife and found it a true joy on basswood. I could quite easily have done the Dala Horse with my other tools tuned for hardwoods because I keep them singing sharp...but the Harley was singing an Auria in this basswood...my very first cutout so be kind